pearson



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R. L. PEARSON.

001m HARVESTER.

Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

1y I. y

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2, R. L. PEARSON.

CORN HARVESTER.

. Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

N. PETERS, Phnwmm m nr. Washington. D. c.

lllniirnn Sra'rns Parsnrr @rrrcs.

ROBERT L. PEARSON, OF CHESTERVILLE, MARYLAND.

CORN-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 389,004, datedSeptember 1-, 1888.

Application filed November 29, 1887. Serial No. 236,461.

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Bonner L. PEARSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ghesterville, in the county of Kent and State ofMarylamhhave invented certain new and useful Improvements inGornI-Iarvesters; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appcrtains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters andfigures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to harvestingana chines which are chieflydesigned for harvesting corn, cane, and kindred growth having a thickstalk and which attains a great height.

The object of the invention is the brodue tion of a machine which willbe lightrunning and which will perform its work in an efficient andsatisfactory manner, and which will carry theharvest and drop it in aheap at the will of the driver.

The essential. feature of the improvement consists in having the machineprovided with guards which give direction to the stalks and preventinjury to the conveyors which grasp the stalks and carry them from thefront end of the machine to the rear end and deposit them in a pileuntil such time as it may be desired to deposit them on the ground in aheap or shock. The carrier on which the load rests is set in motion bythe driver operating a shipper-lever, and quickly ejects the load. Thegathering-arms are of novel pattern and disposed equally above and belowthe con vcyer-chains to distribute the strain equally on the upper andlower edges of the said chains. They are preferably arranged in pairs,and the arms of each pair are located opposite each other.

The improvements consist in the peculiar construction and combination ofparts, which will more fully hereinafter appear and be claimed,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is aplan View, parts being broken away, of a harvesting-machine of my construction embodying my invention; F1 2, section on the line X X of Fig.1, looking (No model.)

in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3, a side view, parts being brokenaway, of the machine; Fig. 4, a longitudinal section on the line YY ofFig. 1; Fig. 5, a detail view, parts being broken away, of the carrier;Fig. 6, a view of one part of the guard, showing the side provided withthe guideway; Fig. 7, a detail view of the conveyor-links having thestuds which support the gathering-arms, on an on largcd scale; Fig. 8, aplan view of a gathering-arm on an enlarged scale; Fig. 9, a front Viewof a gathering-arm, and Fig. 10 a crosssection on the line Z Z of Fig. 1through the guard and conveyor-chain. Fig. ll is a crosssection of theslot-ted arm F, showing the means for adjustably connecting the sprocketwheel Gr thereon; Fig. 12, a detail view of the block 6 and the meansfor connecting it adjustably with the beam or sill of the machine; Fig.18, a cross-section of the lower portion of the harvester-platform onthe line 13 13 of Fig. 1,on an enlarged scale, showing the manner ofsupporting the platform; and Fig. 14., a detail cross-section on theline 12 v of Fig. 12.

The frame of the machine, composed of the front sill, A, the rear sill,A, the side beams A and A the longitudinal beams A A",parallel with eachother and with the side beams, the standards A ,the upper beams A, A andAiand suitable cross bars, A",between the up per beams A and A issupported on two wheels, 0 and G, and is drawn forward by draft beingapplied to the tongue a, which is hinged to the cross-bar a, secured tobeams A and A. The tongue is braced by thestay c and is adjusted by thelever a", which is connected with the tongue by the rod 0.". The purposeof adjusting the tongue is to regulate the height of the front sill ofthe frame from the ground to gage the length of stalk to be leftstanding after the harvestis reaped. The beams A and A" are extendedforward from the sill A, and the ends are beveled on the inner and lowersides. The lower sides are beveled to permit the beams A and A" to runclose to the ground, and the inner sides are beveled to permit thestalks to more readily enter in between the beams A and A. The sides B,extending from the lower beams A and A to corresponding upper the stalksare gathered and retained until a beams A and A form a trou h in whichsumcient quantity to form a shock is collected, when, through mechanismpresently to be described,it is deposited in a heap. This trough isclosed by the bottom B, above which is arranged the platform B",supported in any suitable manner between the sides B, preferably on thetransverse bars 13*, and having tracks b at each edge, on which travelthe endless carrier 13, composed of chains D and slats or bars D. Thesides of the said trough project in front of the sill A, being extendedby the auxiliary side pieces, B which have their front ends incliningfrom the front ends of their respective upper beams to the front ends ofthe corresponding lower beams. The carrier-chains pass over pulleys Eand E, located at opposite ends of the platform B, and each alternatelink has a lateral projection, d, which receives the ends of the slatsor bars D, which are journaled thereon. The ends of the slats or barsare round, and this round portion (2 is adapted to travel on the tracksI). The lower part. ofthe carrier travels in the space between thebottom B and platform 13. The bottom 13 keeps the carrier from coming incontact with the ground and the standing stubble. The platform B forms abearing for the carrier on which the cut stalks lie, and also preventsthe ears of corn from interfering with the motion of the slats or barsD,which they would do were this platform not provided. The pulleys E arein the form of sprocket wheels, and are keyed to the shaft 6, located infront of and directly below the end of the platform B", and journaled inbearingsiu the beams A, A", and A The pulleys E are journaled loosely onthe arms 6, projecting laterally from the blocks 6 placed on the rearends of the beams A and A*, and held adjustably thereon by the setscrewse extending through slots e in the blocks. These blocks 0 are held fromturning about on the set screws 6 by having tongues e projecting fromtheir under sides, which enter the grooves e in the top of the saidbeams A and A*. In case the carrier becomes slack the blocks areadjusted to take up the slack and tighten the carrier, which isaccomplished by loosening the set-screws 0, moving the blocks rearward,and retightening the said screws 0 The guards F, two in number, arrangeddirectly over the platform and carrier, and extending out in frontbeyond the carrier and cutter, have their middle portions approaclr ingvery close to each other to form a narrow passage-way,through which thestalks are ear ried from the front to the rear end of the platform, andhave their ends oppositely flared,in order that the conveyers,which runin ways therein, may more easily gather in the standing stalks andconvey them to a proper position to be cut,and more readily relinquishthem when desired. These guards are supported at their ends on standardsprojecting up from the top beams A and A and intermediate of the ends bythe three brackets F, which are secured at their inner ends, in anysuitable manner, to the upper side beams A A respectivel y. Theconveyers G grasp the stalks and carry them to the rear end of themachine and deposit them on the carrier B The conveyers are, in thisinstance endless chains provided with gathering-arm g, and pass aroundthe sprocket-wheels G at each end of the guards, the sprocket-wheels Gat the points of fiection or the guards, and the spocket-wheels G adjustably held on the middle bracket of the brackets F, to tighten thechains when through any cause they become slack. These conveyers G maybe arranged at any level relative to the guards, which prevent them frombeing crowded by the stalks; but preferably are so disposed that aportion of the guard is above and another portion below them to bracethe conveyer in all directions and prevent itfrom torsional strain. The

guards are each composed of two rails, which in pairs and locate onegathering-arm of each pair directly above the other or correspondingarm, and to have the arms attached to opposite edges of the same link,as shown. The guideways are grooves formed on the opposing sides of therails of the guards and flare at their entrance ends to permit theflanges to freely enter therein. The inner corners of the flanges arebeveled, so that their edges which enter the grooves will be sharpenedto a chisel edge,thereby preventing the ends ofthe flanges catching onthe ends of the guards on either side of the guideways, which onlyextend from the front ends of the guards to the rear point of flection.The rails of the guard may be flanged or provided with strips at eachedge, between which a space is left to form the guideways.

The cutter I-I, arranged in front of the carrier B and working on thefront sill, A, is pro tected by the guards h, which are rounded on theirfront ends to prevent them striking into the stalks, but push them tothe right or left, so that they will be directed to the cutter betweenthe guards to be cut. The guards hold the standing stalks rigidly inplace while be ing cut. The cutter is connected by pitman h with thecrank h on the end of the main shaft I, which is journaled parallel withthe side beams and at right angles to the shaft 6, with which it isgeared by the miter or bevel gear-wheels 2'- and i. The shaft J,journaled parallel with the shaft 6 on the beams A, A, and A near therear end of the machine, is driven from shaft I by the bevel gearwheelsZ and Z and is provided with bevel gearwheels 3', which mesh withcorresponding bevel gearwhcels, 7. on the vertical shafts K, to theupper ends of which the rear sprocket-wheels, G, are keyed. The shaft L,mounted in bearings on the beam A has the pinion Z on its inner end andthe bevel gear-wheel Z on its outer end. The pinion Z meshes with thegear wheel 0 keyed to the side of the drive-wheel O. The bevelgearavheel Z is in mesh with the pinion t on the shaft I. Ahalf-olutchJ, extends from the rear of the pinion l to mesh with acorresponding half-clutch, Z, mounted on the shaft I. The halfclutch Pis adapted to move longitudinally on the shaft to and from the hatfclutch Z, and is keyed to revolve with the shaft, and is held inengagement with the half-clutch Z by the coil-spring M, placed on shaftI. The hand-leverm for moving the half-clutch Z extends withinconvenient reach of the drivers seat N, which is mounted on a board, N,secured to the cross-bars A".

The bevel gear-wheel t is loosely mounted on shaft I, and from its rearthe halfclutch it extends and is engaged by the half-clutch n, keyed torevolve with but free to have a longitudinal movement on shaft l. Thehalfclutch it is in engagement with the shippen lever O, and is normallyheld out of engagement with it by the spring it", interposed between theupper end of the lever O and board N. The foot-lever 1, located withinconvenient reach of the drivers foot, is connected with theshipper-lever O to be operated at will to bring the half-clutches nandit together for operating shaftc and the carrier B? for dis charging theload. The guard-bar Q. prevents the wheel 0 crushing any grain andforcing it into the earth, while the guard-rail Rprevents the conveyeron the side with wheel 0 from catching in the tops of the blades orstalks.

In practice the machine is drawn forward so that the line of stalks willcome between the sides 13, being assisted by the conveyors G. Thestalks, when out, are carried to the rear end of the machine anddeposited in a pile on the carrier by the conveyors. When a sufficientquantity has accumulated, the driver presses on the foot-lever andthrows the carrier in gear, which quickly deposits the load in a heap.The carrier is thrown out of gear by the shipper-lever O. The wheels Cand (3 are disposed so that the frame is nearly balanced thereon and isa trifle heavier in front, s as not to be overbalanced when loaded. Thegathering-arms are held rigid when traveling from the front ends of theguards to the roar point oltlection ofthe guards, at which point theirflanged ends leave the guideways and they drop their burden.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent,

1. The combination, with the guards having their front and their rearends flared or oppositely inclined, and having their middle portionsapproaching close to and parallel with each other, as shown, of thesprocket-wheels G and G located at the ends of the inclined portions ofthe guards, and the conveyors adapted to follow the path of the guardsin their travel from the front to the rear of the machine and passingaround said sprocketwheels, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

2. In a harvesting-machine, the combination, with the frame, the sides13, forming a trough, the endless carrier located at the bottom of thetrough, and means, substantially as described, for operating the saidcarrier, of the guards having their ends flared and having their middleportions brought close together to form a narrow passage between theguards, which passage is above the said carrier, and the conveyorsfollowing the line of the guards, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the guard having a groove, which groove flaresat its entrance end, of the conveyer-chain and the gatheringarmsprovided with flanges which have their front ends beveled, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

4. The combination, in a harvestingmachine, of the guard composed of tworails, one rail being arranged above the other rail and each rail havinga guideway in its opposing side, the conveyor-chain having some of itslinks provided with studs,which extend from the opposite edges of thelinks, and the gathering-arms arranged in pairs and mounted on the studsof the links, and having flanges which engage thesaid guideways,substantially as described.

5. In a harvesting-machine, the combination of the frame, the sides 13,forming a trough, the bottom B, the platform B arranged above the bottomand having a track at each edge, the carrier-chains passing around theplatform B", and the slats or bars journaled at their ends to thecarrier-chains and having their ends rounded and adapted to travel onthe tracks, substantially as described.

6. In a harvesting-machine, the combination of the frame, the sides 13,the endless carrier, the blocks 6*, fitted to the frame by atongueand-groove joint and having slots, the set-screws o passingthrough the slots into the frame for adjustabiy holding the blocks onthe frame, the arms e, projecting from the blocks, and the pulleysmounted on the arms and supporting the rear end of the carrier,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Ial'fix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

RUST. L. PEARSON.

Witnesses:

J os. N. \VHEATLEY, \V. GRAHAM.

ICO

